BBQ Pork and Polly’s Potato Salad

This recipe should be called “no-brainer BBQ pork.” Seriously. It’s that easy and that good.

I made this for the first time a week or so ago. We are under a severe burn ban for the entire state of Oklahoma and we don’t feel good about using our charcoal grill. The Mister is a barbequeaholic. (It’s my new word. Go with it.) So, I thought I would try this recipe that I found in one of my Southern Living cookbooks. It’s easy, makes the house smell great, and since it goes in a slow cooker, it doesn’t make the kitchen hot. (That in itself makes this dish a winner. I hate a hot kitchen.)

You put all the ingredients in the slow cooker, turn it on high, and leave it for 6-7 hours until it shreds easily. **Personally, I thought it was a little too sweet for me. I don’t know if I’d add a more vinegary sauce or what… but just a heads up.

We paired this with my grandmother’s (Polly) potato salad recipe. **This is my favorite potato salad recipe in the WHOLE world. It’s not all gooey and slimy, it doesn’t have huge chunks of onion in it, the potatoes aren’t rock hard and dry … and it tastes soooo good. This tastes best the next day!

Peel and cut potatoes into small chunks. In a large pot, add water (enough to cover potatoes by 1-2 inches), potatoes, garlic, and red pepper flake (I usually give it a couple of shakes). Boil until soft. Drain potatoes. Add onion, eggs, relish, mustard and mayo. In true hand-me-down fashion, we “eyeball” this process. I usually add some, then taste. I continue to add until it’s perfect. I’m making it exactly like she told me. I’m not telling you to “mash” this because your potatoes should be falling apart and getting really small. If it’s not, mash them with your fork or potato masher until it’s the consistency you like. The key to this dish is the garlic and red pepper flake. It really gives it a little something extra.

*For my onion-shy friends (please, count me in that category!). I am not a big “raw onion” fan. I like the flavor of onions though! When I was a kid, my grandma would add onions to our dishes by grating them. She would get a shredder like this:

… and she would run the onion across it to make a very fine oniony pulp. It’s genius. You will not “crunch” into onion if you try it this way. I still do this trick when I’m adding the flavor and don’t want to bite into onion. It’s also super fast. My shredder is also a lot easier to use than one of those things above. Those things are tricky.